


rose-tinted sunsets

by disasterboy



Series: Lemonade [11]
Category: As It Is (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Homecoming, Humor, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-11-12 05:56:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18005141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disasterboy/pseuds/disasterboy
Summary: Ben wasn't in class.It's the homecoming dance of their senior year, and let's just say Ben has a lot riding on tonight...





	rose-tinted sunsets

**Author's Note:**

> this takes place during their senior year, so three years after what's happened so far in the series :D

Ben wasn't in class. Patty first noticed his friend's absence when Ali plopped down in the seat next to him with a gloomy sigh that matched his sad and tired expression. His siren boyfriend was nowhere in sight, and Patty raised an eyebrow at Ali.

"Where's Ben?"

"He said he wasn't feeling too good and told me he was going to skip today."

"Did y-"

"I asked. He wouldn't tell me where he was going, or what was wrong."

Patty frowned and studied Ali's face more carefully. The cryptid looked sadder than usual, but then again he was always sad without Ben.

"Did you guys have a fight?"

"No."

"Then what's wrong with him?"

"I told you I don't know. It's just..." he began, checking the clock on the wall to see how much time they had before the bell rang, "he's been kind of... distant lately. I don't know if he's just got something on his mind, or if something bad happened, or what."

Instantly Patty was thrown back in time to freshman year, when Cody had that "family thing" that came up. Patty still didn’t entirely understand what the situation with Cody’s family had been, but maybe something serious like that was going on with Ben.

Then again, it was weird that Ben hadn't told Ali about that. Ben and Ali had one of the most open relationships that he had seen, including his own with Awsten and Cody. If something was wrong, Ben would have told Ali about it.

"I feel like he's going to break up with me."

Patty's head snapped around to focus on Ali again. "Ali, he's not going to break up with you."

"How do you know?"

"Because he won't shut up about how much he loves you. Everybody knows that he's still head-over-heels for you."

Ali sighed again, but before he could say anything else the bell rang and the teacher walked in. That effectively ended their conversation, but Patty's mind didn't calm down, even as the teacher began lecturing.

* * *

It was easy enough to sneak away before the pep rally. Everyone was already crowded together in the halls, creating the perfect disguise for a student bent on escaping. Patty vaguely remembered the pep rally from freshman year, nearly three years ago, and he recalled standing in the bleachers next to Ali and watching his friend stare at Ben the whole time, who had been standing in the row in front of them. Nothing had really changed between then and now, except Ali and Ben were now dating.

As he was stealthily making his way towards the door, he caught sight of a familiar pair of heads in the crowd, and he changed course to collide with them. Awsten instantly bristled when Patty touched him, and in return Cody turned around, eyes already blazing blue and ready to fight whoever was messing with his werewolf boyfriend, but they both calmed down when they saw who it was.

"Patty!" Awsten yelled. He let go of Cody's hand to throw his arms around the vampire, and Cody soon followed suit.

He couldn't believe that these two idiots were still his boyfriends. By no means was that a bad thing, but he had expected Awsten and Cody to kill each other before the end of their first year, and now they were all still in love and just celebrated their third anniversary. It was a nice surprise, and he woke up nearly every morning thankful that they were able to room together this year.

"I haven't seen you since last night! Now come on, we need to get to the bleachers before the freshman do," Awsten said. He tried to tug Patty into the gymnasium, but Patty stayed where he was.

"Actually, I'm not going." Awsten paused to turn and look back at Patty. His head did that adorable confused-head-tilt thing that looked ridiculous when most werewolves did it but only made Awsten seem more adorable.

"To... to homecoming?"

"No, to the rally. Ben skipped class and I'm going to go make sure he's okay."

"Wait, Ben skipped class?" Cody asked. "He never skips class. Is he alright?"

"Cody, I just said I'm going to find that out."

"Do you know where he is?" Awsten asked. "Because if you need me to help track him down-"

"Is this your way of asking if you can come with me?" Both of his boyfriends nodded, and he sighed.

"Alright, fine. Let's go." Awsten's face instantly lit up, and he leaned up to kiss Patty on the lips. When he pulled back there was a faint imprint of black lipstick, slightly off-center and just barely there, but still visible enough that it made Patty smile and Cody chuckle.

"What? What is it?" Cody kept laughing as he turned to walk out of the school doors, and Awsten proceeded to chase him down the hallway.

Even after three years, they were still the same dumbasses he had fallen for during freshman year. Patty sighed as he followed them out of the school building.

* * *

Ben sighed, looking over the edge of the cliff he was sitting on to take in the crashing waves below. This was where he always came to think (or, sometimes, to make out with Ali without Foley interrupting them). The sea relaxed him, but if he got too close his instincts started kicking in and somebody usually had to restrain him to keep him from jumping into the salty sea water. He assumed it was because sirens were linked to the sea, but he had the feeling that even if he wasn't a siren the sea would still have the same effect on him. If he had nothing else, at least he'd have the sea.

The ring in the palm of his hand felt nearly as cold as the sea breeze that was messing up his hair and blowing salt all over his face. He had bought it a few weeks ago while Foley distracted Ali for the day, and Ben had been holding onto it since then.

Tonight, however, was the night. He had been planning this ever since Ali had asked about marriage a couple of months ago. He wasn't even sure if Ali had been serious, but Ben was, and he really loved Ali but they haven't even graduated yet, and…

... And now he was overthinking things again. Ben closed his eyes and inhaled the salty sea air, letting it fill his lungs and clear his mind. He felt like staying in the exact same spot for the rest of the night, but tonight was homecoming, and if he didn't show up for the game somebody was going to come after him.

When he heard three sets of footsteps approaching his hiding spot, though, he realized that somebody already _had_ come after him.

"Patty, I'm fine." Instantly Ben slipped the ring back inside the chest pocket of his flannel, and he put his hands back in his lap right as Patty sat down on one side of him.

"If you're fine, then why did you skip class?"

"Did it ever occur to you that I skipped class because I simply _wanted_ to?" Ben turned to look at Patty, but Patty only gave him a stern glare over the tops of his obnoxiously large sunglasses that told Ben that he could see right through the lie Ben was telling.

Somebody sat down on his other side, and Ben turned and was greeted with the bright blue shock of Cody's hair. Awsten soon followed, curling up as a wolf in Cody's lap.

"Awsten! Jesus, babe, get off of me!" Awsten ignored his boyfriend and instead fixed his gaze on Ben.

Ben and Awsten had actually grown quite close in the past few years, and even though Ben was surprised at the friendship they had formed he wouldn't give it up for the world. Awsten whined, smacking Ben's chest with one of his giant paws, and he didn't relent until Ben reached up and scratched behind his ears. Poor Cody looked more like a pancake than a teenage boy; thankfully Awsten shifted back into his human form after Ben was done scratching, and Cody inhaled sharply as Awsten wrapped his lanky arms around his neck.

A hand on Ben's shoulder made him turn to face Patty again. Patty's face was full of concern for his friend, and Ben knew he wasn't going to relent until he got an answer.

"Tell us what's wrong, Ben."

Ben waited for a few seconds before reaching into his chest pocket and pulling out the ring again. Patty's face instantly lit up in shock and surprise, and even though Ben couldn't see their faces he was sure that Cody and Awsten were both wearing matching facial expressions.

"I'm just nervous. I've been planning this for months, and I was worried that I was going to accidentally say something to Ali that would ruin everything."

"Wait wait wait, hold up," Awsten said. "You're _proposing_ to him?"

"At the dance tonight, yeah."

"Oh my God, Ben, that's amazing!" Cody yelled. He surged forward to hug Ben, throwing Awsten off of his lap in the process, and Ben nearly lost his grip on the ring as he tried to hug Cody back.

"Why didn't you tell any of us?"

"Well, Foley knew-"

"You told _Foley_ but not me?" Awsten whined.

"...only because he’s my roommate and made sure Ali was distracted so I could actually buy the ring. I threatened to chop him up and throw him into the ocean if he told anybody, and I'll extend the same courtesy to you three if you open your mouths."

"Hey, don't worry. Your secret's safe with us," Patty reassured. He wrapped an arm around Ben's shoulder and tugged him close, and Ben returned the half-hug gratefully. Soon Cody and Awsten joined in, making Ben smile a little.

He wasn't sure where he would be without his best friends, but he was glad that he didn't have to find out.

* * *

They barely made it back to the school before the homecoming game started. Cody was relieved; he never missed a Monster High football game, and he was glad that he got to see his last homecoming game from beginning to end.

As soon as they made it to the bleachers, Ben left their sides and made a beeline straight to where Ali, Foley, and Dan were sitting. He took a seat next to Ali and snuggled up underneath his boyfriend's arm, and Ali looked surprised at first but wrapped his arm around Ben's shoulders. Cody smiled as Ali planted a kiss on Ben's head. He could see that they were talking, but Cody couldn't hear what they were saying over the marching band.

"Who do you think is gonna be the best man?"

"Awsten! Shut up!" Patty whisper-yelled.

"Yeah Awsten, shut up," Cody mimicked. "We all know it's gonna be me."

Awsten snorted. "As if, demon boy. It's gonna be me."

"Both of you, shut up," Patty said. He dragged his boyfriends over to an empty row on the bleachers. "Besides, I wasn't even aware that this was an argument. Ben's gonna pick me to be his best man, and you two don't stand a chance."

"Hey, be quiet! The game's starting." Cody said. Patty rolled his eyes but still wrapped one of his arms around Cody's waist.

"Remind me who we're playing against," Awsten demanded from Cody's other side.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You do this every fucking year, Aws. There are posters everywh-"

"And you give me the same fucking speech every year! Just tell me who we're playing, you giant sack of brainless hellfire!" Both Patty and Cody fell silent as they turned to look at Awsten, bewildered beyond belief.

"Uh, we're playing against Northpoint High. It's a school full of witches."

"Oh, one of my cousins goes there." The three monsters turned around to find Maxx approaching them, with Zach not too far behind.

"Isn't your cousin a banshee too?"

"Yeah, but banshees are technically witches so they let her in." Maxx sat down next to Patty, tugging Zach down to sit next to him. "She was going to come out tonight but she said she 'didn't want to mingle with other lesser monsters like werewolves and vampires'. Now I'm kind of glad my parents aren't as stuck up as hers are."

"I don't think-"

Zach was cut off by a very loud buzzer, and both he and Cody stood up to yell, which meant that Monster High had scored the first touchdown of the game.

"Hell yes!"

"Wow, that was fast. The game just started," Patty commented.

"Hey, I'm not complaining," Cody said as he sat back down. "If we keep this up, we'll definitely win."

Something vibrated in Cody's pocket. In unison, both he and Patty pulled out their phones. A text from Ben illuminated his lock screen, and a quick glance over at Patty's phone showed the same exact message.

"You too, huh?"

"He must have made a group chat."

Mere seconds later, a message came in from Foley, followed by another one from him correcting a typo.

"Foley's in it, too."

"What's happening with Foley?" Maxx asked. He was only half listening, though, because he was too busy staring at Zach while Zach watched the game.

"Nothing, he's fine."

"Alright then."

Cody finally unlocked his phone to read the messages:

 **P(B)iss** has added you, **❤︎❤︎ Dracula ❤︎❤︎** , **Mini Ben** ,  **Water Boy** , and **Butterfly Man** to the group

 **P(B)iss** : can u guys meet with me before the dance? i need your help with something

 **Butterfly Man** : Yeah, srue. What's up?

 **Butterfly Man** : *sure

 **Butterfly Man** has renamed the group " _a demon, a siren, a selkie, a vampire, and the coolest guy on earth (and timmy)_ "

 **P(B)iss** : cant tell u right now. i dont want ali to look over and accidentally see it.

 **P(B)iss** : also foley why is that the chat name

 **Mini Ben** : fuck u fairy man

 **Mini Ben** : can't even get dicked down without you insulting me

 **P(B)iss** : timmy please, now is not the time

 **Water Boy** : timmy get off your phone

 **Mini Ben** : >:P

 **Butterfly Man** : Ew.

 **❤︎❤︎ Dracula❤︎❤︎** : Cody and I will be there. I assume you don't want Awsten there since you didn't add him to the chat?

 **P(B)iss** : no god please don't bring awsten. i love the guy but dont bring him

 **❤︎❤︎ Dracula ❤︎❤︎** : Okay, so no Awsten. Got it.

Cody turned to look at Ben, who was staring down at his phone while Ali watched the game. Foley was sitting on Ali's other side, but he had already put his phone back in his pocket. Nothing seemed to be wrong with them, so Cody wasn't worried that Ben needed to meet because of an emergency. Still, he was curious about what Ben needed help with. He settled in to watch the rest of the game, but his mind was now buzzing with anticipation.

* * *

Monster High ended up winning 46 to 7. Ali didn't really understand American football, but he was happy to see his friends excited about it.

After the game, Ali walked with his friends for a bit before bidding them goodbye and teleporting back to his dorm. Normally he would have walked with Ben, since their rooms were right next to each other, but Ben had said he was helping Patty get ready, so Ali had gone home alone. He showered and dug out his suit from his closet before standing in front of the bathroom mirror for a minute. He looked alright, he supposed; every piece of his suit was black and fit him perfectly, and he just hoped that Ben liked it. He adjusted the tie he had on, stepped towards the door, and opened it to find Ben standing outside with his fist poised to knock.

"Oh." Ben paused in the doorway for a moment, but eventually stepped back to let Ali out of the room. Ben looked absolutely stunning in his navy blue suit. He had refused to let Ali see it beforehand, and Ali was both upset and grateful that Ben had kept it hidden from him or else he probably would have jumped Ben the minute he put it on.

"I... was just going to go get you. You look gorgeous."

"Thank you, and you as well. Turns out Patty just wanted help picking a color of lipstick to wear."

"Ah," Ali said. "What color did he go with?"

"Black, what else?" Ben chuckled, obviously trying to act amused but failing miserably. Ali frowned: something was off with Ben since they woke up that morning, but Ali had thought that the matter had been resolved when Ben had shown up at the football game. Now, however, Ben seemed more nervous than ever, and Ali was worried.

"Ben, what's wrong?"

"What?"

"You're acting really strange. Is something going on?"

"I... I'll tell you after the dance. Come on, we're going to be late." Ben grabbed Ali's hand, ice cold in Ali's warm one, and led him down the hall of their dorm building. It was a short walk to Patty's triple dorm, where the vampire and his two boyfriends/roommates were standing outside of the door. They actually seemed to coordinate this year, since they were all wearing shades of red. Awsten's red hair matched Patty's suit jacket and Cody's tie. It was still a shock seeing Awsten with his new hair color, but he did change it every couple of months or so, so Ali was sure he would get used to it in a few days.

Ali tried to ignore the way that Cody was drooling over his boyfriends, or the hand that Patty had in Cody's back pocket.

Timmy and Brady were also there, with Timmy in a purple suit and Brady with a matching bow tie. There was an obvious bite mark that just barely rose past the collar of Brady's jacket, and Timmy had put his lip rings back in after months of not wearing them. They both nodded at Ali, who gave them a small wave in return.

"What are we standing around here for? Let's go!" Awsten yelled. He started sprinting in the direction that the gym was in but soon was forced to stop and wait for everyone else as they walked.

"You guys are so slow! Move it, come on!"

"Shut up Awsten!" Cody yelled. Awsten snarled at Cody so fiercely that Ali was worried they were going to start fighting again, but the tension passed when Cody caught up to the werewolf and planted a large kiss on his forehead. The rest of the walk was spent in silence until they arrived at the gymnasium. Awsten immediately split off to go pester Geoff, who was standing off to one side while holding Dan's hand. Both Dan and Geoff smiled at Awsten, but as soon as Awsten opened his mouth their smiles faded slightly. Patty and Cody remained together, practically joined at the hip as they made their way towards the punch bowl. Timmy and Brady disappeared immediately, probably to find a closet to make out in for the rest of the dance. Ben led Ali out onto the dancefloor, although all Ben did was shuffle around a bit while resting against Ali's chest. Some trashy pop song was blaring through the rented speakers, and monsters of all kinds were moving around them in a sea of body parts, but everything else seemed far away as Ali focused on Ben and only Ben. 

Ali wasn't sure how he got to be this lucky. Ben was an irresistible siren, and there was still an entire line of people who would snatch him up in a second if he broke up with Ali, but for some reason, Ben had chosen to date him. Ali let out a small, happy sigh before kissing the top of Ben's head. Ben had snaked his arms inside of Ali's jacket, and his cheek was pressed against Ali's collarbone with Ali's arms around his waist. It was hot, sweaty, and crowded on the dancefloor, and yet Ali wouldn't wish to be anywhere else but here.

After a few more songs, Ben looked up at Ali. "Can we go get our picture taken?"

"Sure. Yeah, of course." Ali removed Ben's arms from his jacket to hold his hand as they joined the line for the picture booth. It wasn't a very large line, with Dan and Geoff and two other couples in front of them, and soon it was their turn. As they took their place in the middle of the cheesy backdrop that matched the party theme (which was "Cosmic Craze" this year, which meant tons of stars and space imagery), Ben leaned in to whisper something to the photographer, who smiled and nodded.

"What did you tell her?" Ali whispered when Ben returned to his side.

"You'll see," was all that Ben said. Ali sighed but brushed it off. And here he was thinking that  _he_ was the cryptic one.

The photographer began the countdown, but it seemed that she was pausing longer than normal in between the seconds. Ali could have sworn that he felt somebody else's presence behind him, but he didn't want to turn around and ruin the picture. Eventually, the camera shutter went off, and she stepped back and smiled at them. Ben and Ali hurried off to the side to make room for the next couple. Ben snatched up the photos as soon as they stopped printing, and he stuffed them in his pocket before Ali could look at them.

"Hey, I want to see them. I'm in there too, you know." 

"I know. Just... come with me, yeah?" Ben grabbed Ali's hand and led him to an unoccupied corner. His eyes were darting nervously back and forth, and instantly Ali was on red alert.

"Is somebody after you?"

"What? No, what the fuck, why would you think that?"

"You're looking for somebody in the crowd."

"No, I'm not. It's just a little crowded in here. Can you-"

"I'm on it." Ben didn't even have to finish the sentence to know where Ben wanted to go. He held on tightly to the siren and closed his eyes, and when they reopened they were standing on the cliff that overlooked the sea. Ben came here to think a lot, and Ali knew not to go there unless Ben brought him along. 

"Are you feeling better?"

Ben's eyes were still closed, and he inhaled deeply before nodding.

"Yeah, I'm better. Here." Ben rummaged around in his pocket and took out their pictures, handing one to Ali. Ali smiled down at the photograph, noting the way that Ben's hair flowed over his shoulders, or the way the light caught on the buttons of his tuxedo, or the giant banner in the background that says-

"Wait." Ali brought the picture closer to his face, squinting as if he didn't have his glasses perched on his nose. That banner hadn't been there when they stepped into the booth. It was covering up the "Cosmic Craze" banner that had originally been there. Ali could see Timmy's purple arm sticking out past the backdrop, so he could only assume that the werewolf and his selkie boyfriend were in on whatever was happening. In big block letters, the words "WILL YOU MARRY ME?" were etched out in gold paint on the off-white paper, and a ring was painted in silver on one side. 

"Ben, did you-" Ali removed the picture from in front of his face, only to find Ben kneeling on one knee in front of him. He had his arms held upwards towards Ali, and when he saw that Ali was looking he opened his hands to reveal a small velvet box.

"Oh my God..."

"I... I don't really have a big speech planned out or anything. I had some of the guys help me execute this, but I've had the idea for months. You were talking about plans for the future, what colleges we were going to, what kind of home we would buy, where we would live, and when I saw that you were including me in all your life's planning I knew then that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. So, Ali Testo..." Here, Ben opened the box, revealing a shiny ring that Ali knew half of the monsters in the school would go nuts over, "... will you marry me?"

Ali didn't answer. He stood, rooted to the ground and staring open-mouthed at the ring, but he could not find the energy to make his vocal cords work for a solid ten seconds. Ben started to fidget, looking away like he always did when he was nervous, and Ali realized he was taking too long to answer. He inhaled deeply before nodding to get Ben's attention.

"Yes? Is that a yes?" Ali nodded again, and Ben's face broke out into the biggest grin Ali had seen in their almost three years of dating. Ben stood up and immediately pulled Ali into a bone-crushing hug, which Ali gladly reciprocated. When they pulled back Ben took the ring out of the box and slid it onto Ali's finger. As soon as the ring was securely in place Ben pulled Ali's face down for a long, deep kiss, the first kiss in a while that hadn't been a simple peck in the hallway or a chaste kiss on the cheek as they settled in for the night.

It took Ali a couple of seconds to realize that somebody was wolf whistling. The cryptid turned to look at the treeline, where several of their friends were crowded. Cody, Patty, and Awsten were entangled in each others' arms, grinning like maniacs, while Timmy had made himself at home sitting on Brady's shoulders. Dan, Geoff, Maxx, and Zach were there, too, smiling and clapping politely. Cody was the one whistling, and Patty reached out to cuff the back of his head to get him to stop.

"How long have you guys been there?" Ben asked.

"About a minute. Long enough to see Ali say yes," Timmy answered. 

"Alright you guys, let's get back to the dance and let these two celebrate on their own," Cody called out. He turned to leave, but as everyone else followed suit he whipped his head around and winked at the newly-engaged couple. 

"Huh, alright. I guess we know what he meant by 'celebrate'," Ali chuckled.

"It was a good suggestion." Ali pried his eyes away from the sight of his retreating friends just in time to find Ben in his face again, arms wrapping around Ali's neck and lips hungrily searching for his own.

They didn't show up to the dance until the very end, and if Ben had an obvious limp in his step nobody said anything. Ali's ring glittered in the shitty school gymnasium lights as they rejoined their friends on the dancefloor.


End file.
